Bites and near misses in the Caribbean and South America

The delegation met with several newspaper owners, including here in the Dominican Republic.

I’ve just returned from almost two weeks in South America and the Caribbean as part of a mission with the Austria-based International Press Institute, the oldest press-freedom organization in the world. I serve as the IPI’s North American Chairman. Our top goal was to talk with politicians, academics and journalists about repealing criminal defamation from penal codes in the region. No journalist should have to go to jail for what they write or broadcast; issues of libel or slander should best be dealt with in civil courts.

We had far more success than we expected. Go here to read IPI releases about the mission. I later flew to Haiti to celebrate the grand opening of my friend Jeanguy Saintus’ new studio for Ayikodans, the country’s preeminent dance company. His former studio was destroyed in the 2010 earthquake.

Traveling is fraught with challenges, opportunities and danger. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at my two weeks on the road.

 DON’T MAKE ME LATE

During a layover in Port of Spain, Dutch Ambassador Lucita Moeniralam, who represents the Eastern Caribbean, and I agreed to meet for lunch at the Trinidad Hyatt. When she arrived, she said she hoped I did not rent a car because she was headed to the airport after lunch and would give me a ride back. That should have been a warning. The Hyatt is among the best lunch spots in the country. The food did not disappoint. And Lucita, a friend whom I’ve known for years, had lots to talk about. The topics included a major party she was throwing in a week to mark the abdication of Queen Beatrix and the investiture of King Willem-Alexander. Trinidad’s new president would be among her guests.

The Dutch flag, which flew on the Ambassador’s car.

Before I knew it, the time I had in my mind for us to leave had gone by. We quickly got up and hustled to Lucita’s car, skipping dessert. “We have 20 minutes to get to the airport,” she told her driver. Problem is, the airport is 30 minutes away – even more in traffic. Sure enough, we pulled out of the Hyatt and hit a wall of traffic. I kept my cool as we maneuvered through traffic, even taking some shortcuts I didn’t know exited. The flag flying from the front bumper helped. Trinis were surprisingly respectful, allowing us slip into ahead of them. We got to the airport with a minute to spare. Lucita hopped out the car and walked with me to the airline counter just in case the flight had closed. The agent smiled. I wasn’t late.

At security, I heard a commotion and looked around. Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar had arrived for her flight with a large entourage. Could that be why traffic was so horrible at midday?

 WHERE’S MY CARD?

I called my bank before leaving home as I sometimes do to alert them to the countries I planned to visit. In Santo Domingo, I went to an ATM next to a large supermarket on the Calle El Conde pedestrian mall, which I’ve used on previous visits. The machine accepted my card then nothing happened. My card was gone. And nothing I could do would eject it.

Calle El Conde, usually buzzing with pedestrians.

The machine belonged to one of the large banks. I called the number next to the keypad for problems with the machine. I was told the bank services the machine at 2 p.m. They would locate the card and send it to my hotel. I walked to my hotel replaying what happened in my head. At the hotel, I called my bank to report what that my card had been captured by the machine and asked for a freeze to be placed on my account. In the short time sine the card disappeared, I was told a charge had come in for $500 or roughly 20,000 pesos and another was being processed. I immediately canceled the card. The bank reminded me that I had zero liability for charges under such circumstances and the charges will be reversed. Thankfully, my liability in this case was only one of inconvenience.

IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?

Workshop that I had to leave.

I was bitten by a bug in Suriname. I thought it was a mosquito but the swelling and discoloration that followed made me think it wasn’t a mosquito. Strangely, mosquitoes seldom bite me. No idea why. In the Dominican Republic, several days later, I became concerned when the swelling would not go down. At a meeting with local journalists in San Francisco de Macoris, I became after feeling a little lightheaded. I pulled up my pant leg and showed the swelling to IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie, who was sitting next to me. The look on her face told me this is bad. In fact, it almost scared me! We showed it to the president of the association and she led us out of the room and to a nearby pharmacy. Luckily, her daughter is a doctor, who talked to the pharmacist about what meds to buy. The swelling has gone away and my foot, so far, has been saved.

 DON’T FORGET THE FLOWERS

The lucky ladies with their flowers.

After dinner on Saturday night, IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie, FIU associate journalism professor Mercedes Vigon and I grabbed some chairs in the beautiful courtyard at the Hotel Santo Domingo and settled in for a drink. A number of people were mulling around. We later realized that they were part of a wedding party. As we sat and talked, the party broke up. The bride and groom left, followed by their family and friends.Workers soon arrived to brake down the decorations. What to do with the spectacular floral arrangements? They decided to give them to us. We graciously accepted then passed them along to a couple of women sitting on the other side of the courtyard. I could tell that we made their night.

 WHERE’S THE CHEF?

At dinner one night in Suriname, we checked out a hot Chinese restaurant. The young waiter didn’t know much about the food since he didn’t like Chinese food. And he didn’t know much about local drinks since he didn’t drink. No matter. We placed out order and waited. And waited. An hour later, we called him over and asked where’s our meal. We couldn’t believe his response: “The cooks are on break.” It was only 9 p.m. and the restaurant was almost full. Who allows the cooks to go on a break? We asked to see the manager. She arrived with an apology. And she couldn’t believe what her waiter told us. “They were not on break,” she said. “He forgot to turn in your order.” She said she told him to go over and tell us what happened. Instead, he made up a crazy story. Very crazy. Would love to say the food was worth the wait. It wasn’t.

IF MUSIC IS THE FOOD OF LIFE …

At the Ayikodans studio reopening.

Many people have said that Haiti is a smorgasbord of culture. And they’re right. Whether you’re interested in music, dance or art, you can find it in abundance in Haiti. I have for years supported the Ayikodans dance company, which has come back strong after the country’s devastating earthquake three years ago. I was honored to be in Port-au-Prince for the reopening of the company’s dance studio, which was destroyed in the quake.

 

Silibo members blowing the roof off the room.

While there, my friend Youri Mevs took a small group of friends into a neighborhood behind the Kinam Hotel to meet some of her friends. We weren’t sure of what to expect. Them the young men pulled out their horns. And music filled the small room. The group is called Silibo, meaning a place of happiness. And the room was that and more Monday afternoon.

As Silibo played, residents elbowed their way into the room. Others pushed against a small window, their eyes peeking into the room. It was magical.

Residents press against half-open window to peek into the room.

The group has been around for 12 years and plays mostly for fun. Check out some of their music here. Youri’s dream is to have some professional players from the U.S. come to Haiti to spend time teaching and learning from Silibo. Youri is passionate about anything she’s committed to and I have do doubt that will happen. When it does, count me in for the finale.

THE IRON LADY — NOT ALL STEEL

Margaret Thatcher had always irritated me. Her iron-fisted views about South Africa were among my chief irritant. The then-British prime minister, joined by President Ronald Reagan, was a staunch defender of the racist apartheid regime in South Africa. I understood her reasoning but did not accept it.

It  was not just South Africa. As a student at the University of Connecticut, I spent a semester studying in London in the mid-1980s. It was the height of “Maggie’s” power. She took on the miners with a ferocity that left little doubt that she would prevail. I witnessed the miners’ strikes and daily protests, which she eventually crushed. I also watched and felt for students who demonstrated against her education reforms. I even traveled to Greenham Common where hundreds of women  were camping to protest plans by Reagan and Thatcher to place U.S. cruise missiles on British soil.

It felt like a crisis-a-minute and Thatcher was determined to never give in. I came later to admire that strength in a most unexpected way.

While in Britain, my interest in politics led me to acquire media credentials for all the political party conferences that fall. It was a great way to see the party leaders in action and write stories for the UConn newspaper about the youth movement within the parties.

I attended both the Liberal and Labour party conferences and was set to attend the Conservatives conferences in Brighton. I looked forward to the trip, particularly because I had heard that Brighton was very scenic.

My plan was to catch the train from London and arrive in Brighton shortly before Thatcher was to give her much-anticipated leader’s address. I awoke that morning to a bombshell:   live TV and radio coverage from Brighton. Something had gone terribly wrong.

During the night, the IRA had set off a bomb in the hotel where Thatcher was staying. It went off minutes after she had left the bathroom, which sustained severe damage, it was being reported. The Prime Minister, who had been working on her speech, and her husband were safe but the blast stunned the nation. Television pictures of the sizable gash in the Grand Hotel’s exterior were being played and replayed.

I hurried to Brighton, amid some talk that the conference might be canceled. There were rumors that Mrs. Thatcher had returned to London and would call off the rest of the meeting.

By the time my train arrived in Brighton, it was decided that the conference would reconvene. Amid intense security, the line to get into the hall seemed to take forever. I finally made it in and took a seat in the media pit slightly in front the stage.

CONSERVATIVE, TOUGH SPEECH

Thatcher arrived to thunderous applause – and later gave one of the best speeches I have ever heard. She was strong, decisive, inspirational and even funny. “The bomb attack on the Grand Hotel early this morning was first and foremost an inhuman, undiscriminating attempt to massacre innocent, unsuspecting men and women staying in Brighton for our Conservative conference. Our first thoughts must at once be for those who died and for those who are now in hospital recovering from their injuries,” she started.

She continued: “But the bomb attack clearly signified more than this… it was an attempt to cripple Her Majesty’s democratically elected Government. That is the scale of the outrage in which we have all shared, and the fact we are gathered here now, shocked but composed and determined, is a sign not only that this attack has failed, but that all attempts to destroy democracy has failed.” (Read, Watch)

I looked up at her – peering almost directly into her deep blue eyes — as she spoke. The speech was Thatcher at her best: Conservative and tough. But she also expressed a level of humility and compassion that I had not heard before. I began to admire the woman — wife, mother, grandmother — beneath the suit of armor. This Iron Lady, I remembered thinking, was not all steel.

I followed Thatcher less closely in the years after I left Britain, although I was captivated by the intrigue surrounding her downfall at the hands of many of the men who applauded her at the Brighton conference.

We met for the first time when she visited Dallas to give a speech at Southern Methodist University years after leaving office. At the reception that followed, I told her that I was in Brighton for her speech. She stopped, looked at me and seemed to relive the moment. Then she began to reveal details of that fateful day. Her security detail, she said, had whisked her and Denis to a nearby police academy. The security team then insisted that she return to London not knowing if another attempt on her life was in the offing.

But she told me that she stood firm: she would not return immediately to No. 10. Her focus was returning to the conference to give her speech. And that she did.

I was fortunate to be invited to her hotel suite on another of her Dallas visits – this time to interview her during a promotion tour for her book, The Path to Power. She again relived the Brighton bombing, and we discussed her first steps in politics and work since leaving office. It was a special hour. As we said goodbye, she reached for a book from one of the many boxes scattered on the floor and autographed it: “To John Yearwood. All good wishes. Margaret Thatcher. 30 June 1995.”

As she begins her final rest, it’s my turn to say, “All good wishes, Margaret Thatcher.”

PROMINENT JOURNALISTS JOIN IPI NORTH AMERICAN BOARD

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS INSTITUTE

 NORTH AMERICAN COMMITTEE

For Immediate Release

 MIAMI — Four accomplished journalists from around theUnited States, including a respected newspaper publisher and a award-winning columnist, have been appointed to the board of the International Press Institute’s North American Committee, the organization announced Friday.

 The new board members are: Robert Beatty, publisher,South Florida Times; Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief, The Los Angeles Times; John Daniszewski, vice president and senior managing editor for international news, the Associated Press; and Rochelle Riley, columnist, Detroit Free Press.

 “These incredible journalists are among the best in the business,” John Yearwood, North American Committee Chairman and World Editor for The Miami Herald, said. “I’m thrilled that they’ve agreed to join the fight to preserve and expand press freedom in North America.”

 The new board members will serve along with Stuart Loory, professor emeritus, University of Missouri and former CNN vice president; Simon Li, IPI board vice chairman and former Los Angeles Times assistant managing editor; Ryan Blethen, director of new product strategies atThe Seattle Times; and Pat Smith, managing editor of Global Journalists at the Missouri School of Journalism.

 The North American Committee is a national committee of the International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists dedicated to the furtherance and safeguarding of press freedom, the protection of freedom of opinion and expression, the promotion of the free flow of news and information, and the improvement of the practices of journalism. Headquartered in Vienna, Austria, it was founded at Columbia University in New York in 1950.

 The North American Committee is among the oldest andmost influential of IPI’s national committees. It covers the United States and Canada. To date, IPI also has national committees in Austria, Denmark, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Nigeria, Slovakia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Germany, India, Taiwan and Turkey. IPI will hold its next World Congress from May 19-21 in Amman, Jordan.

 “The secretariat, IPI board of directors and other national committee chairs are very excited about the new additions to the North American Committee’s board of directors,” IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said. “We are looking forward to participating in and promoting the committee’s activities throughout North America as well as Latin America and the Caribbean in the coming year.”

 Added Riley, co-chair the National Association of Black Journalists Global Journalism Task Force: “As American newspapers shrink, our goal is to encourage journalists to look to the world and its immigrants to tell their stories. I am honored to join the global effort to ensure press freedom and to ensure that journalism survives everywhere as it is practiced now.

 

 More on the new board members:

 

Beatty is publisher and chief executive of the South Florida Times, one of the largest African-American and Caribbean newspapers in Florida. He was previously general counsel and vice president of public affairs for The Miami Herald Media Company and served as a member and chairman of the Governor’s Financial Emergency Oversight Board for the City of Miami from 1996 to 2000. He also served for two years prosecuting major crimes in the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.  He has served as chairman of the board of the Beacon Council, chairman of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce, president of the Greater Miami NAACP, chairman of the Miami-Dade College Board Foundation, vice president and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.

 Maharaj, as editor of the Los Angeles Times Media Group, oversees the largest daily newsgathering organization in the West. It includes the flagship Los Angeles Times, the nation’s fifth-largest newspaper; latimes.com, the nation’s second-largest newspaper website; LA — The Los Angeles Times Magazine; Times Community News, which consists of seven suburban daily and weekly newspapers and websites; and the Spanish-language Hoy and Fin de Semana newspapers and websites. A 24-year veteran of The Times, Maharaj was named editor in December 2011. He is a native of Trinidad and has worked as a reporter for The Times in Orange County, Los Angeles and East Africa. 

 Daniszewski was promoted to vice president and senior managing editor of AP in 2009, overseeing international news. Prior to that, he served as managing editor for international news and before that as AP’s international editor. Daniszewski rejoined AP in 2006 following a decade as a foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and in his 19 years abroad he has covered some of the most significant social and political changes of our time along with conflicts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for his work for The Times and he was a member of a reporting team that was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize and won an Overseas Press Club award.

 Riley’s commentary on social, political and cultural issues appears in the Detroit Free Press and she appears occasionally on National Public Radio, WDET radio and local TV station WDIV-TV 4’s “Flashpoint.” as well as on radio stations in Detroit. A member of the National Association of Black Journalists, she has been a consistent advocate for improvements in race relations and the lives of children. Prior to joining the Free Press 12 years ago, her career included stints at The Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post and the Courier-Journal in Louisville, where her 1996 debut column helped spur an $80 million campaign to build the Muhammad Ali Center. Her columns about corruption scandals encircling former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick helped garner a Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting in 2009.

 For more information, contact John Yearwood,jyearwood@miamiherald.com, or 305-376-3467.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE DUTY OF JOURNALISTS

An op-ed in Thursday’s Trinidad Express by Alison Bethel McKenzie, executive director of the International Press Institute.

By Alison McKenzie

THIS is an open letter to my colleagues in Trinidad and Tobago. It is not a secret that Trinidad and Tobago boasts one of the freest environments for the media in the Caribbean and, I would dare say, in the Americas. That many countries in the region continue to repress the media is, though, deeply troubling.

While the International Press Institute (IPI) works diligently to promote press freedom around the globe, it also understands—and demands—the need for responsible journalism wherever it is practiced.

With media freedom comes responsibility, not statutory responsibility as defined by governments seeking to limit independent reporting, but voluntary standards and ethical practices rigorously adhered to by journalists who are proud of their profession and the fundamental standards of accuracy, fairness and balance it must at all times uphold.

In my focus on press freedom and best journalistic practices in Trinidad and Tobago, I am served by my decades of experience as a journalist and editor in Africa, the Caribbean and the United States.

Throughout the Americas, in a digital age marked by virtually instantaneous sharing through a breathtaking variety of cutting-edge platforms of information gathered in an array of innovative ways, citizens are increasingly demanding accurate, fair and, in particular, independent news coverage. Theirs is a quest for information. The gauntlet they have thrown down is not just to politicians who have long embraced opacity at the expense of transparency, good governance, accountability and human rights, but also to the media, which they are challenging to provide more balanced, accurate, integrity-driven and incisive reporting.

Read more here: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/The_duty_of_journalists-201371641.html

NATPE OPEN TO THE WORLD

Having a little wrestling fun at NATPE with wrestlers Bushwacker Luke (Left) and Titan.

I spent a little time today at the 2013 National Association of Television Program Executives conference at the Fontainebleau Hotel on Miami Beach. Initial impression after walking through the marketplace: If you like Kung Fu, you’ll love NATPE. I was struck by the number of companies promoting everything from Chinese Kung Fu to cooking shows. But beyond China, there were tons of booths staffed by distributors from all over the world.

 NIGERIAN CHIEF

Chief Steve Ojo distributes his Nigerian dramas and lifestyle shows at NATPE.

At the entrance to the marketplace was Chief Steve Ojo of Nollywood Worldwide Entertainment and his son Omololu. They were hoping to distribute Nigerian dramas and lifestyle shows in the U.S. I told the chief about the guy down the street from my house who sells Nigerian movies from his storefront. The chief suggested that they might not be genuine. Don’t know about that but the chief seemed to be doing brisk business at NATPE judging from the number of people I saw stop by his booth. His top offering is a soap called “Desperation,” which chronicles the lives of eight people who will do desperate things to cling to what they believe is rightfully theirs. Chief Ojo called it “an intriguing” drama series. He seems like the perfect salesman, which partly explains the foot traffic.

KUNG FU FIGHTING

Representatives of Sansang flew in from China looking for distribution deals for their mega-hit “Three Kingdoms.”

Not far from the chief’s booth were the folks from Sansang Media Co. Ltd, who flew to Miami from Beijing in hopes of distribution deals for “Three Kingdoms.” It’s the kind of major Chinese warrior movie that I love. According to the brochure, “more than 1800 years ago, in the mysterious orient, the most legendary century in Chinese history began … War, beauty, power, destiny, intrigue, wisdom, extreme situations, hope and heroes whose name still resound nowaways.”  Sansang Media said “Three Kingdoms” took six years to produce, remains the top rated show of the last decade and has received 10 billion network hits in China. The brochure has pictures of all the action and intensity of the show. Not sure how many distribution deals were struck, but it looks like something I would enjoy.

 PUERTO RICAN GOODIES

Representatives from Grupo People seek distribution partners their cooking show, “Salsa & Flavors from Puerto Rico.”

 My final stop was at Puerto Rico’s Grupo People’s both. The company is hoping to distribute the cooking show Salsa & Flavors from Puerto Rico. Programmers say the show “will offer the television viewer a scoop of our most treasured gifts, that is, our exquisite cuisine. Shot on the most beautiful, majestic and seductive sceneries of the enchanted island, Puerto Rico.” The pitch came complete with a coffee stand, offering Yaucono, which they claimed is  the best coffee in Puerto Rico. Don’t know about that but it tasted pretty good. Later, they planned to offer tastings of the “exquisite cuisine” but I didn’t have the time to wait around.

I found NATPE quite intense. If you don’t like crowds, probably best to stay home and enjoy some of the selections that were snapped up at last year’s show.

    

Announcement of the IPI North American Committee New Chairman

John Yearwood

VIENNA, January 25, 2013 – The North American Committee of the International Press Institute announces the appointment of veteran journalist John Yearwood as its new chairman.

Yearwood replaces Ryan Blethen, director of new product strategies at The Seattle Times. Yearwood also immediately replaces Blethen on the IPI executive board of directors. He is expected to receive full confirmation for a three-year term at the IPI annual World Congress and 62nd General Assembly in Amman, Jordan from May 19-21.

“It is with great pleasure that I pass the torch on to John Yearwood, world editor of The Miami Herald,” said Blethen in a letter to IPI Chairperson Galina Sidorova, chairperson of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, Foundation 19/29, Russia. “John is smart, dedicated and enthusiastic about IPI and press freedom. I believe it will also be good for the North American Committee to have as its chair the foreign editor from one of the country’s leading newspapers. I will continue to serve on the board of the North American Committee as an active member.”

The Vienna-based International Press Institute is the world’s oldest global press freedom group. It comprises a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists dedicated to the furtherance and safeguarding of press freedom, the strengthening of cooperation within the media, the promotion of the free flow of news and information and the improvement of the practices of journalism.

IPI was formed in October 1950 by 34 leading editors from 15 countries – brought together by Lester Merkel of The New York Timesand Le Monde founder Hubert Beuve-Mery – at Columbia University in New York, in the aftermath of the Second World War, on the belief that a free press would contribute to the creation of a better world.

Today, IPI has grown into a global organization with members in more than 120 countries drawn from prestigious media organizations such as CNN, the BBC, Global Post, ITV News, the Oklahoman, the Associated Press, Deutsche Welle, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Nation Media Group (Kenya), The Post (Zambia), and The Hindu, to name but a few.

Said Yearwood about his new position, “I’m humbled and honored to have been asked to build on the great work that Ryan and others have started. The North American Committee has tremendous potential. It also has the biggest microphone within IPI. I intend to turn up the volume in the months ahead. I believe strongly that NAC must engage fully in the fight to preserve press freedoms here at home, expand it in totalitarian regimes abroad and nurture the next generation of press freedom fighters.”

Yearwood will act as a host of the first annual Foreign Editors Circle Conference and Luncheon in New York City on Feb. 5. The IPI North American Committee and Associated Press-hosted event will bring together the most respected foreign editors from all over the United States to discuss issues such as how to ensure global news coverage in light of the media’s ongoing financial crisis, how to work with correspondents on the ground, journalists’ safety, and other pertinent topics. The luncheon speaker for the invitation-only event will be U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice.

An award-winning multi-media journalist, under Yearwood’s leadership at The Miami Herald, his department has won numerous awards. Yearwood’s coordination of The Herald’s Haiti earthquake coverage contributed to the newspaper being named a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News.

Before joining the paper, Yearwood was National/International Editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas. Before the Star-Telegram, he spent two years in the Caribbean as founding publisher/editor of Ibis, a general lifestyle magazine. While publisher of Ibis, he was elected president of the San Juan (Trinidad) Business Owners Association.

Prior to this, he spent 10 years at The Dallas Morning News, where he reported from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Yearwood also was a correspondent for the Associated Press in Connecticut and Oklahoma, a national correspondent for Focusmagazine and the News/Public Affairs Director for WHUS Radio in Connecticut.

Yearwood has served on the executive boards of Unity Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists. He co-chaired NABJ’s World Affairs Task Force for four years, helping to send dozens of journalists on overseas assignments. He is a member of the Vienna-based International Press Institute’s Foreign Editors Circle.

Yearwood was named one of the 40 most influential African-Americans under 40 in South Florida and one of the 100 most successful Caribbean-Americans in South Florida. He is recipient of a Miami-Dade County Pillar Award and the Haitian Women of Miami Leadership Award.

For more information, contact Anthony Mills, IPI deputy director, at amills@freemedia.at 

You can follow John Yearwood on Twitter @John_Yearwood or on his blog, Worlddispatch.wordpress.com. You can find out more about IPI at www.freemedia.at or follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/InternationalPressInstituteIPI or via Twitter@globalfreemedia.

ART BASEL MIAMI — LOTS FOR EVERYONE

Art Basel Miami is in full swing and my friend Robbie Bell has spent countless hours combing through dozens of programs seeking out shows of particular interest to African-Americans. Here is her list. It’s long but there are some great nuggets here. Enjoy Art Basel, which seems bigger and better this year.

NEWS YOU CAN USE

Dear John, I’M BACK!!! and happy to be here. My primary business is selling lifestyles, Go To Robbie Bellhelps people buy, sell or lease real estate that fits how they want to live their lives. As a lifestyle expert, one must know where to go and what to provide a complete picture of Miami living. Your kind words, encouraging me to get back to the business of telling you where to go and what to do is so appreciated; after all, it is so me:)

Introducing Art Noir Miami Art Basel has been present the first weekend in December for the last 10 years; I have written — or let’s say whined — about the visibility of artists of the Black African Diaspora. But 2012 presents a new day and new time for those of us who what to see and buy work from artists of our hue. Black is in the house this year! I am excited to tell you how very busy you are going to be over the next week. Art Miami starts December 4, running through December 9; Art Basel begins December 6and closes on December 9. This all now is commonly referred to as Art Week. Just as the city I love has grown and expanded its art scene, I felt it time to shift from “Art Basel on the Black Side”to become more inclusive and reach a broader community; moving forward, the art aspect of GTRB will be known as Art Noir Miami. Over the last few years we were hard pressed to consider this an exciting event when, traversing the landscape, it was difficult to find the work of black artists. But black art in Miami is alive well thanks to the likes of locals Neil Hall, Dorothy Jenkins Fields, Babacar Mbow, Carl Juste and Que Simmons. Thanks, too, to those who traveled from afar, Najee Dorsey, Ludlow Bailey, Keith Golden and Russell & Danny Simmons, who have created opportunities to showcase Black Art as a reality in Miami. Thanks to Felicia Lopez-Walker, Dexter Bridgeman, Mikhaile Solomon, Derin Young, Ronnie Crews and many others who work feverishly behind the scenes to add to the Miami experience for collectors (Black, White, Yellow or Beige) who seek out works by artist of the Black African Diaspora. A special thanks to Rosie Gordon-Wallace for being a stallworth in the community pushing the art message for years.